Days Gone Remastered review – Freaker Friday

Days Gone didn’t have much of a fighting chance when it was first released. Sure, it had an interesting premise and some great talent behind it, but it was also quickly–and possibly unfairly–overshadowed by Sony’s other post-apocalyptic zombie game, The Last of Us. A couple of years later, Days Gone is back from the proverbial dead like the zombies of a George Romero horror movie, shambling into action with a graphical overhaul, new gameplay modes, and several quality-of-life updates.

Is it worth playing in 2025? Absolutely, if you don’t mind dealing with a few last-gen annoyances and forever baked-in design decisions nipping at your tasty ankles.

Compared to The Last of Us, Days Gone takes a wider look at life after a viral epidemic throws global progress back several centuries. It’s a dog-eat-dog setting that players find themselves in when they first hop into the open world–and the boots of protagonist Deacon St. John, a biker with a dark past doing his best to survive. Between hordes of Freakers roaming the towns of Oregon, cultists with a fetish for flame-grilled scarification, and locals having set up their own fiefdoms, Deacon has his work cut out for him.

For the PS5-only remaster, Days Gone has received substantial visual enhancements that help bring the dystopian world around you to life in stunning and sharp detail. As you’d expect, PS5 Pro owners get the best visual experience here with the grisly graphics, but, overall, the Oregon landscape looks and sounds better than ever. It’s worth taking a minute to soak in when you’re not being chased by the Freaker hordes. Those mobs are also a lot bigger in Days Gone Remastered, so you’ll have your work cut out for you when you attempt to thin out their numbers.

Related to that is the addition of the new Horde Assault mode, in which you can choose from one of several characters and see just how far you’d get against the ever-increasing swarms of infected people looking to turn your face into a lunchtime treat. It’s arguably the best part of Days Gone amplified, a visceral and intense experience that juggles the sweat-inducing thrill of staying one step ahead of Freakers with the glee of turning them into mincemeat as you improve your arsenal.

Anyone looking for a challenge can also try to complete the game through the newly added Permadeath and Speedrun modes, and being able to fine-tune the experience with the new accessibility options is also a welcome touch. There’s no denying that all of this content does help improve Days Gone, but its story remains easily the weakest link in this package. Even with top-notch acting from Sam Witwer and the cast, the narrative still falls flat thanks to forced moments of emotion and poor setup.

But beyond that? This game has plenty of charm when you go off the beaten track and embrace a world that feels like Sons of Anarchy meets The Walking Dead. Maintaining your motorcycle, exploring an incredibly harsh wilderness, and making a mad dash for freedom when you’re being chased by all manner of cannibalistic horrors still makes for a fun time, especially with this enhanced package.

If you gave the game a skip when it first came out, there might be just enough here to convince you to give it a second chance–or at the very least have some fun in Horde Assault mode, which is well worth the modest price of admission.

Released on 15 April, Days Gone Remastered is exclusive to PlayStation 5.